Step 3 calculate the energy per acre.
Cost of 1 acre of solar panels.
The most obvious factor that impacts the cost of solar panels is the size of the system you purchase.
Average solar panel cost.
National data september 2020.
Most solar panels last for 50 years have a 25 year warranty and start generating a return on investment after 8.
The most recent official data from the doe funded lawrence berkeley labs published in september 2019 found that the median cost of residential solar panels is 3 70 watt.
On average 1 acre solar farm cost about 500 per month to lease in the united states.
A good rule of thumb is that on average a one acre field of solar panels will cost from 400 000 to 500 000 before government incentives.
The average cost to install solar panels is from 10 626 to 26 460 after tax credit for a 6kw to 12kw system to power an entire house.
This can make it tricky to get a rough estimate of how much it will cost to build per acre of solar panels.
The above cost is non inclusive of the license fees and value of the land.
Based on the above references and our understanding of the uk solar market it can be said that as of 2015 the overall cost of a utility scale solar power plant in the uk is in the range 1 1 2 pounds w.
The cost of land for 1 mw plant will therefore translate to 2 500 per month on average.
Well according to landmark dividend the average solar farm profit per acre lands somewhere between 21 250 and 42 500.
Solar panels come in several types and dimensions but as an example 100 200w solar panels usually measure 1 square meter in size.
System size and quality.
The economies of scale concept is in full effect in the solar industry.
Of course it s very important to remember that these figures vary wildly on a project by project basis thanks to some of the factors we ve discussed above.
This means that a 1 mw utility solar power system will cost you 1 1 2 million pounds mw without any incentives.
On average 1 square meter of solar panels directly exposed to sunlight will receive about 1 kilowatt hour kw h of energy per hour for the six hours it is exposed to.
Meanwhile that value sounds unusually low in comparison to typical costs associated with residential solar 3 to 4 dollars per watt.
The average solar panel payback period is 7 to 12 years and solar energy saves 600 to 2 000 per year on electricity costs.
Therefore you can assume that a 1 mw solar farm would cost roughly 1 million to install.